NEWS

By Renee Doyle

I’ve heard, once you are in the auto industry you never really leave. Well I left but like many, it has pulled me back and after a 5-year hiatus, I’ve landed back with DealerMine CRM.  The job is different, putting on my sales hat this time around, but it feels familiar all the same.

Reconnected with old colleagues and clients, with a refresher on our products and industry.  This is where it started to feel very different, so many aspects of the industry have evolved in the past 5 years.

 Here are some standout differences between the company and industry I left 5 years ago and today;

 1)     To begin with, I left a CRM and BDC company – I came back to a much larger organization now offering service lane technology, desking, F&I, DMS. I will need a little time to catch up on all this technology but initially I am so impressed with these advancements. The industry has embraced the digital age – no more paper appointment schedules that’s for sure.

2)     Ringless Voice Drops – what is this magic driving service appointment bookings? At first, I was a bit of a skeptic – I was having déjà vu of robocalls telling me I won a cruise. To my surprise, consumers are very receptive, likely because they are less intrusive.   The results speak for themselves – effective and inexpensive – and they have really helped offset staffing shortages through COVID.  

 3)     Digital Retailing – seriously, I can buy a vehicle online now? Without ever stepping foot in a dealership? Sign me up. I reconnected with an old client and they were raving about Autovance’s MyDeal technology. First week it was live on the dealer’s website a consumer bought a vehicle on Sunday evening and picked it up Monday morning without ever speaking with the salesperson.  Now that we are experiencing additional community restrictions, I’m not sure how dealers would survive without migrating online and virtually for vehicle sales.

4)     BDC – I’ve always known the BDC to be a key driver to a dealer’s service business. I am not sure if it is COVID or the secret is out about BDC but we have a line up waiting to get into our BDC. Staffing has been an issue for some dealers through COVID but phone volumes are way up, BDC is more important than ever.

 I’m happy to be back, it’s an exciting time in the industry.

PRESS RELEASE:

SAINT JOHN, New Brunswick, Nov. 05, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Quorum Information Technologies Inc. (TSX Venture: QIS) (“Quorum” or the “Corporation”) announced today that the Government of Canada, through the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (“ACOA”), is providing a $500,000 interest free, repayable investment to assist Quorum in adding significant enhancements to DealerMine’s Online Scheduling application.

Maury Marks, Quorum’s President and CEO stated, “We are excited that ACOA is supporting the research and development of our technology in our Saint John, New Brunswick office. Online Scheduling is a cloud-based online scheduling application that allows dealership customers to book service appointments from any device. After this project is complete, we will license the Online Scheduling application as a stand-alone web booking application to dealers and industry partners. Additionally, we will be adding exciting new functionality including Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) capability that identifies potential Declined Service from past work order’s, predictive analytics that determines the Next Likely Repair based on the age, make and mileage of the customer’s vehicle and a more intuitive and engaging User Interface.”

“To bring back our economy stronger than ever, we must support small and medium-sized companies in their efforts to innovate, digitize and compete,” said Wayne Long, Member of Parliament for Saint John-Rothesay, on behalf of the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages. “I am pleased that the Government of Canada, through ACOA’s Regional Economic Growth through Innovation program, will help DealerMine create a team of experts to develop a stand-alone Online Scheduling application for the automotive industry. This project will strengthen the company’s product line, expand its markets and create four highly skilled positions.”

About Quorum Information Technologies Inc.

Quorum is a North American company focused on developing, marketing, implementing and supporting its portfolio of software and services for automotive dealerships that includes:

• XSellerator, a Dealership Management System (DMS) that automates, integrates and streamlines key processes across departments in a dealership, and emphasizes revenue generation and customer satisfaction.
  
• DealerMine CRM, a sales and service Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system and set of Business Development Centre services that drives revenue into the critical sales and service departments in a dealership.
  
• Autovance, a modern retailing platform that helps dealerships attract more business through Digital Retailing (DR), improve in-store profits and closing rates through its desking tool and maximize their efficiency and CSI through Autovance’s F&I menu solutions fee.
  
• Advantage, a full showroom system for both franchised and independent dealerships and a comprehensive management system that includes accounting for the independent market.

Quorum Information Technologies Inc. is traded on the Toronto Venture Exchange (TSX-V) under the symbol QIS.  For additional information please go to http://www.QuorumInformationSystems.com.

About ACOA

ACOA creates opportunities for economic growth in Atlantic Canada by helping businesses become more competitive, innovative and productive; by working with communities to develop and diversify their economies; and by championing the strengths of Atlantic Canada. For more information, visit ACOA online.

Forward-Looking Information
This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (“forward-looking information”) within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information is often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as “anticipate”, “believe”, “plan”, “intend”, “objective”, “continuous”, “ongoing”, “estimate”, “expect”, “may”, “will”, “project”, “should” or similar words suggesting future outcomes. Quorum believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking information are reasonable but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking information should not be unduly relied upon.

Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and involves a number of risks and uncertainties some of which are described herein. Such forward-looking information necessarily involves known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause Quorum’s actual performance and financial results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of future performance or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking information.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) has reviewed this release and neither accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Maury Marks
877-770-0036
Investors@QuorumDMS.com

PDF available: http://ml.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/f2503788-ac15-45bb-8f18-6e6dc41b7947

We Invite you to Join us on Thursday, November 5th at 2 pm ADT for an informal introduction to Autovance and its founder Rick Johnston. Autovance is a Sales and F&I Retail Platform that, like us, belongs to the Quorum group of companies.

In this session, Rick will talk about how Autovance is deeply integrated into DealerMine and how they are currently helping hundreds of dealers across Canada in these different areas:
 

• Desking – Autovance was founded on the concept of Desking being an integral part of the process in every store. Rick will cover a number of the unique features of Autovance Desk, including how they get the data right, different ways to desk during the pandemic, and how Autovance is seamlessly integrated into DealerMine.

• F&I – Autovance Menu is blazing the trail of a new and better way for F&I managers to sell more and sell quicker. Rick will cover how dealers are succeeding using a tablet in F&I as well cover a number of other ways the tool can speed the process up without sacrificing on the bottom line.

•  Digital Retail – Autovance MyDeal is the latest creation of the Autovance team and is quickly gaining momentum as a leader in the space. Rick will talk about why Desking is the right base for a DR company, how dealers are using the tool today, and much more on the rapidly changing landscape of out-of-showroom transactions.

For more information on how to register please email info@dealerminecrm.com or reach out to your DealerMine CRM Account Manager.

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